The Moon in the Man

We couldn’t have planned a better night to screen “Moonstruck” at Victory Park last Wednesday (June 18th)! The weather was nice – not the typical “Texas-nice” where it’s almost bearable to be outside – but the “nice” where the skin beneath the sleeves of your Oxford dress shirt is downright jealous of your bare hands. We finally got a break from the mugginess that covered the Metroplex after that series of much needed rainstorms while the “alley” that is the AT&T Plaza made for the perfect breeze-trap.

But the weather couldn’t compare to the eerily coincidental full moon that hit my eye – like a big pizza pie – on my way home from the movie. It was big, it was round, and it was bright. And even though no one on our staff knew it was going to be a full moon that night, I think it might have been something more than just luck. Because, if you think about it, what are the odds that we’d show “Moonstruck,” of all movies, on the very same night where the moon was at its brightest? That’s about as likely as a widowed Brooklyn bookkeeper in her late 30s, Loretta (Cher), falling in love with the estranged younger brother, Ronny (Nicholas Cage), of her newly-engaged fiancé, Johnny (Danny Aiello). But, as we all know, that kind of stuff happens. And what are the odds that when Ronny takes Loretta to the Met’s production of La bohème (which happens to be the connection between “Moonstruck” and our upcoming season) they’d coincidentally run into Loretta’s father who is cheating on her mother? But we all know someone in real life who has been caught cheating in a more ridiculous twist of fate[1].

We had a great turnout. The Plaza was full of familiar faces that thoughtfully brought food and wine to enjoy throughout the movie but I was sincerely impressed by the number of stragglers who continued to stop in throughout the movie. Every time I stood up and looked out at the crowd, it seemed to grow. Did these people just happen to be walking by or were they intentionally looking for something to do? Either way, we were glad to have them. Despite a brief glitch in the equipment, everything went smoothly and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

So, my point is that maybe chance isn’t so vague. Maybe there’s a reason why flukes happen and maybe we’re more in control than we think.